Banana Chiffon Cake

As many of my friends do, I like to bake banana cakes as a good way of getting rid of ripe bananas, and treating my family with some good desserts without wasting anything. Amongst all kinds of cakes, I like the light, fluffy chiffon cakes the most. The texture of this banana chiffon cake is a bit like the kind of Japanese cake, different from this one. Even though I eat half of this cake, my stomach still can have room for a big meal afterwards. The Chinese translation of “chiffon” is “戚風” that says it all. The cake is really light as “wind” literally. Not only is this banana chiffon cake so easy, and quick to bake, but also do I love the banana fragrance coming out from the hot oven while baking it in this cool weather.

Preheat oven to 165C (330F). Use a small food processor to process the bananas into paste. Set aside.

Mix the egg yolks with 14 grams of sugar until smooth. Add oil, milk and mashed bananas. Combine very well. Sift in cake flour, incorporate all ingredients well until you get a smooth batter.

Use an electric mixer to beat egg whites first for a while until bubbles form. Add cream of tartar. Add one third of the 40 grams of sugar at a time. Combine well between the adds, until stiff peaks form. (Please refer to this video, showing how to beat egg whites, that I uploaded on youtube.)

Fold in the egg whites into the batter. Add one third of egg whites at a time in order to easily incorporate the egg whites (Also, here’s a video of showing how to fold-in the egg whites).

Transfer the batter into the cake mould that shouldn’t be non-stick or greased. (The mould you use is very important to get the best result. It helps the cake avoid from shrinking too much after removing from the oven, once the temperature drops.) Pop in the preheated oven and bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Test it by an inserted needle coming out clean. Remove from oven and immediately revert the cake mould upside down on a wire rack. Let it cool completely. Carefully remove from the cake mould. Enjoy!

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I made this yesterday =] And it was very light and fluffy and delicious! I found the cake to be more moist than my usual chiffon cake recipe- is this supposed to be the case?? But then the bannanas I used were actually off, and I didn't realise that until I had a slice and then my mum chucked it into the bin so I don't have any photos for a blog post =[ But thanks for the recipe anyways! I'll probably be making this again when we buy more bananas!

Hi Kim,I happened to see some chiffon cake tins, not non-stick ones, at Robin's Kitchen. They are a bit bigger than this recipe yields for though. But you can increase all the ingredients in proportion if you get one from Robin's Kitchen.Or you can ask your friends to buy you one from Hong Kong.

yes, in the end i simply doubled the recipe. the cake was good, though i felt it was a little too moist and the banana flavour wasn't strong enough. is there any way to make the banana flavour stronger, other than adding banana flavouring?

To Anonymous,You can't add too much bananas into the batter, the chiffon would be too moist, not light otherwise.If you really like more banana flavours, I guess the only way is to add a few drops of banana essence.

To Anonymous,The fluffy texture or how it looks after removing from oven depends on how well the egg whites are beaten, and how well they are folded in the batter.Take a look at the video I posted, it might give you some idea. The link is on the sidebar.

Hello Christine,I just finished making this cake and it is probably the best banana cake I've ever made. But my cake didn't rise as high as the one in your picture and I added slightly more flour and 1/2 tsp of baking powder. Any improvements or insight of what went wrong?Any help would be much appreciated.Thanks!

Hello Christine,I just made this cake and it is probably the best banana cake I've ever made. But my cake didn't rise as high as yours in the picture. I used slightly more flour and 1/2 tsp of baking powder. Any insight of what went wrong? Any help is much appreciated.Thanks!

@AnonymousThis chiffon cake only needs the beaten egg whites, no baking powder needed. The fluffy peaked egg whites would help the cake rise. Any added flour or baking powder would destroy the balance of ingredients.

Hi Christine..I like baking so much especially on chiffon cakes..but always have problem with the height ..always not high enough and already watch ur youtube egg mixed..can u tell me where the problem lies? Thank you in advance for ur answer.... Bakers cheers.... Xiauhui

@Xiauhui:Did you watch my video of how to beat egg whites? The beaten egg whites give the crucial support of a chiffon cake. I often add a bit of cream of tartar to stablize the egg whites, as the air inside the egg whites wouldn't be knocked out easily while folding. And the heat of oven is very important too. If the temperature of oven is not hot enough, the cake won't rise high. Having said that, don't let your cake get brown too quickly. Note that if a cake gets brown within the first 10 to 15 minustes, it indicates the oven temperature is too high. Both temperature and time of cooking work hand in hand together.

As mentioned by other fans on this page, I just tried to bake your banana chiffon cake but failed. I used a non-stick pan and the cake turned out to be the height of a plain cheesecake right when I took it out of the oven. It didn't rise as high and even after it cooled down a bit, I saw that it shrunk even more. This cake is a challenge. I will try to make it again when I find a no non-stick pan. I just have one question. For the no non-stick cake pan, do I really have to use an angel cake pan? Or is it ok if I use a 8 inch round cake pan that's no non-stick and has no hole in the middle. Your advise is greatly appreciated ~~

@Julie :I also found non-stick cake pan is not quite suitable for baking chiffon cakes. The chiffon cake would easily shrink back. The loose base, with a tube, not non-stick, shown in my picture is the best. Try to get one if you really want to bake best chiffon cakes.One more thing, don't ever grease the pan.

Hi Christine, I tried baking this last weekend, the cake rise a lot and it was nice in the oven, but when I took it out and invert it, the cake fell out from the cake tin, I checked the tin, a thin layer of the cake still sticking to the side and bottom of the tin, the whole center part of the cake fell off...What happened? :(

Thanks for this great recipe. I made it on the weekend and it turned out fabulously.

One question - I did not use a non-stick tin, as per the recipe. So the cake did rise wonderfully. However, I had trouble removing it from the tin as it was sticking to the bottom and the side (and it was a pain cleaning the tin afterwards)

I live in New York. I'm having trouble finding the right Cake Flour. Can I use all-purpose flour instead? Will it still be as light and fluffy, if I use something else other than Cake Flour? Please help!

As I didn't have cream of tar tar, I replaced it with light sour cream and realized no matter how long I beat the egg whites it just never become foam and fluffy like :( it came out watery. Could the reason be because of the sour cream?

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